Tel Aviv University (TAU) is ranked 22nd in the world for the number of patents it produces (2,400 to date). That’s not surprising for a nation that gets top marks among OECD nations for its R&D investments. Yet, much like in Canada, interest in math and science is waning among Israeli high school students, creating the potential for deteriorating innovation. In an interview with the Financial Post’s Dan Ovsey, TAU president Joseph Klafter discusses what his university is doing to change the trend and how TAU collaborates with industry to foster a culture of entrepreneurialism and innovation. Following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

QHow do you know there’s a lack of interest in math and sciences?

A In Israel, when you graduate high school, you get a certificate that shows what are the matriculation tests that you went through. When you look at credits in high school, there are two levels in each topic in which you can graduate. Five is the maximum. Three is the minimum requirement. The more fives you have, the better the graduate from the point of view of researchers. So, if you don’t see math and physics at five points, but just at a minimum requirement, then you see there’s a problem.

QIt seems odd that Israeli students — who have historically embraced math and science — would suddenly lose interest.

AI can’t tell you exactly why, but I think it might be related to some demographic changes within Israeli society.

QWhat are the implications for Israel’s economy?

A The implications aren’t visible yet because it’s just a trend. But because we see the trend, the university can create its own ways to correct it. We can do that on a few levels. Level One is going back to high schools through our school of education within the university — and the school of education in TAU is very involved in high school programs, high school teaching and even preparing teachers for high school — in that respect, we’re very active in math, physics, chemistry, etc.

QSo you’re using your faculty of education to promote math and science to high school students?

A That’s one way we’re doing it. The other way is to take high school students who are very good at sciences and expose them to university life earlier. At TAU, we have the most advanced initiative of this kind, which we call the Youth University. High school students come to the campus almost every day in the afternoons and get advanced courses in physics, chemistry, math, and those that are really, really good — the cream of the crop — they can even take courses that will give them credits when they join university later on.

QOne of the things Israel is known for is its abundance of venture capital. Is there a concern that if there is a drop in the number of entrepreneurs that venture capital will go elsewhere?

A Definitely. That’s why we’re being proactive — to correct the trend. But I must say that, having said all of this about high school students, when we look at what’s happening on campus, you see an opposite trend. You don’t see a decrease in the number of students that bring ideas that eventually materialize in businesses. You see an increase. I’ll give you an example: There’s a group of students that is called Start TAU, which is a group of university graduates who realized that there are many students who are interested in inventing something; who have an interesting idea, but most of them don’t have any experience in developing business plans or know what it takes to start a business. They see that as a huge barrier. Start TAU volunteered to take on the task of educating students on how to do it. They approached us, and we immediately saw it as a chance to help students, the university and eventually the state of Israel’s economy. They have grown so much that they have also begun to attract youngsters from outside the university. So, now they’re catering to a whole layer of younger potential entrepreneurs in the Tel Aviv area that approached Start TAU for advice.

QWhat about faculty? What role do they play?

A Faculty members are, of course, driven by curiosity and want to invent and dream to make an impact on society. They come up with ideas but they also need mentoring. So, within the university, we have two entities. One is an older, more traditional one, and one newer. The more traditional one is RAMOT, which is our commercial arm. It’s a daughter company of the university that has a board and the board looks at ideas that come from the faculty to RAMOT. They screen the ideas and decide what are the projects that the university or RAMOT should invest in. And investing means patenting and then keeping the patent alive. It’s also looking for partners who could also invest. So RAMOT is our arm that connects faculty members with the business world, so they get investment into their ideas.

QAre entrepreneurs from outside the university allowed to present their ideas?

A No, it’s strictly for faculty. This is important because every faculty member who has an idea knows that he has to share the income with the university, because we provide the facilities and infrastructure. So, it’s clear that we have a share in this.

QSo, it’s an investment for the university as much as it is for the faculty member.

A Exactly. What we’re now opening is something that is less traditional and it’s kind of a hub for faculty members and maybe even graduate students that have an idea that is still not tried or not quite right and who want to discuss the idea with others and get some mentoring. So, we founded a facility on campus and there will be a committee to screen the ideas and identify those that are riper. This will be another route in helping entrepreneurs take their initial steps. The spirit of innovation on campus is very much alive and TAU was ranked 22nd in the world in its number of patents. We have about 2,400 patents, 65 spin-off companies and 180 licensed inventions.

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